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The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.

Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.

Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.

B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.

To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.

The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

Rule #9

Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.

Rule #10

We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.

Pacers notebook: Jermaine O'Neal is a Pacer at heart

Jermaine O’Neal spent eight seasons playing for the Indiana Pacers. He made the playoffs six times in those eight seasons. He was selected to five All-Star Games and was a Most Valuable Player candidate one year.

That was more than four years ago.

But when he does retire, which could be any year now for the 34-year-old veteran, he wants to retire as a Pacer.

O’Neal was back at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Friday as a backup center with the Phoenix Suns.

“I would be honored if the organization would allow me to (retire with them), the city allowed me to do that,” O’Neal said. “I can go anywhere in the world and people recognize me from my Pacers days. My heart and soul is here, and if I can get an opportunity to retire as a Pacer that would be fantastic.”

The only thing O’Neal didn’t ?accomplish during his time with the Pacers was win an NBA title.

The Pacers reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2004 where they lost to the Detroit Pistons.

O’Neal was traded to the Toronto Raptors in 2008.

After stops with the Raptors, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, O’Neal signed with the Suns during the offseason.

He said he doesn’t know how many more years he plans to play, but the days of signing with title-contending teams are behind him.

“I’m taking it year to year, baby,” O’Neal said. “I’m not going to chase a championship, that’s the reason why I signed here. I just want to go somewhere and have fun. The spirit here is great, we’re not where we want to be with the record. It’s a great atmosphere and makes you feel young all over again.”

Young sidelined
The Pacers were short a player on the wing for the second straight game.

Swingman Sam Young missed Friday’s game with the flu. It’s uncertain if he’ll play tonight against the Hawks in Atlanta.

The Pacers couldn’t turn to rookie Orlando Johnson as the fourth wing because he was in Fort Wayne with the Mad Ants, Indiana’s D-League affiliate.

Vogel elected to go with a three-man wing rotation of Paul George, Lance Stephenson and Gerald Green, who missed last weekend’s game at New Orleans with a sprained ankle.

Working on things
The postponement of Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Bulls gave the Pacers five days in between games and three practice days.

The extra day allowed the Pacers to work on their zone offense ?because the Suns used it and the Hawks will likely play some tonight.

“You always worry about guys staying sharp and having a little rust, but we haven’t had a prolonged sequence where we haven’t been playing,” Vogel said.

Comment

I don't even mean this as a negative (or positive), but you have to think that a big portion of JO being recognized as a Pacer also includes the Brawl. Of all the images of the Pacers from that era that people around the world saw a lot of, #1 has to be replays of the brawl. Ron, Jack and JO are definitely linked to the Pacers through those images foremost.

I'm happy he identifies with the Pacers and pleased (if true) to hear that he purposely avoid title chasing to just sign someplace that would make him happy. But of Ron, JO and Jack, JO has had the fewest moments of fame post-brawl to help make people forget it. Jack has had some bad moments since then, but he's also had the GSW upset and a nice run with Charlotte for one year. Ron, nuts as he continues to be, has had glory moments with the Lakers. JO has just mostly been in the background since Indy.

Comment

Can't believe I'm saying this, but I would love if the Pacers brought him back at the deadline this year. Yes, I loathe his sort of egotistical "I'll dominate again" persona, but it would be cool to see him finnish in a Pacers uni. Maybe even a bit of closure for what could of been. And he looked good last night (I hated when he blocked Hibby). I would only be concerned that JO can only stay healthy in PHX.

Comment

Never blamed JO for the brawl at all, but yes, he's one of the poster boys for it. In fact, JO is unique in that he is both a Brawler and a JailBlazer. Spending half of the time in a suit the last few years of his Pacer tenure, JO is also known as a very much overpaid player along the same lines as Elton Brand. These are the things the rest of the world sees.

The reality is, even with all that talent, the JO era teams didn't accomplish much. They didn't have good chemistry. They lost in the 1st round 4 times, lost in the 2nd round once and lost in the ECF once. They didn't even make it to the playoffs his last two years as a Pacer, right in his prime. Great player for a few years, but these are his real accomplishments and they pale in comparison to the notoriety he got with the brawl.

Comment

JO was an NBA All Star more than any other Pacer so guessing casual fans would know him from that. I'd love to see JO back as a Pacer as an active player' In my opinion his #7 should be retired when he is done playing weither he ever plays as a Pacer again or not.

Comment

I love Jermaine as a player and he's still one of my favorites. I'd be happy if he got to finish his career here as a Pacer and it seems it'd really give him peace of heart as well if he were able to. He's actually being fairly productive for Phoenix all things considered, and I certainly wouldn't be opposed to having that off our bench.

But yea, I don't think he's good enough to have his jersey retired, unless we do get him him, and he carries us to win.

Comment

If JO comes back here for a few playoff runs, does his jersey get retired?

No.

We've clearly set a very strict standard for retiring jerseys given that Reggie is the only NBA Pacer with a retired jersey. Smits, Jackson, and D. Davis were far more popular figures than J.O. ever was. I realize JO's six all-star appearances dwarf the combined two that those three had here (1 each for Smits and Davis), but those three guys were vital cogs on teams that went on deep playoff runs and even made the NBA Finals. We really only had one great season with JO, 03-04. We were eliminated in the first round four times (01, 02, 03, 06) and missed the playoffs twice (07, 08). We did make it to the second round in 05, but that year was obviously marred by the brawl. Plus it was Reggie and Stephen Jackson who were really carrying that team down the stretch. JO was hurt in early March and didn't come back until the very end of the season. The Dale Davis addition helped a lot too.

JO was a very good player, but he didn't do enough to warrant having his uni hang with Reggie and the ABA greats, IMHO.

Comment

We've clearly set a very strict standard for retiring jerseys given that Reggie is the only NBA Pacer with a retired jersey. Smits, Jackson, and D. Davis were far more popular figures than J.O. ever was. I realize JO's six all-star appearances dwarf the combined two that those three had here (1 each for Smits and Davis), but those three guys were vital cogs on teams that went on deep playoff runs and even made the NBA Finals. We really only had one great season with JO, 03-04. We were eliminated in the first round four times (01, 02, 03, 06) and missed the playoffs twice (07, 08). We did make it to the second round in 05, but that year was obviously marred by the brawl. Plus it was Reggie and Stephen Jackson who were really carrying that team down the stretch. JO was hurt in early March and didn't come back until the very end of the season. The Dale Davis addition helped a lot too.

JO was a very good player, but he didn't do enough to warrant having his uni hang with Reggie and the ABA greats, IMHO.

I know this is the answer, but that 3rd in MVP voting year and the fact that he was the most popular athlete in the state for awhile makes me think.